Selway River

The Selway River is a large tributary of the Middle Fork of the Clearwater River in the U.S. state of Idaho. It flows within the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, the Bitterroot National Forest, and the Nez Perce National Forest of North Central Idaho.[5] The entire length of the Selway was included by the United States Congress in 1968 as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.[6]

Selway River
Selway River at the Goat Creek rapid
Course of the river
Location of the mouth of the Selway River in Idaho
Selway River (the United States)
Location
CountryUnited States
StateIdaho
CountyIdaho
Physical characteristics
SourceSoutheast of Stripe Mountain
 ⁃ locationBitterroot National Forest, Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Bitterroot Mountains
 ⁃ coordinates45°29′49″N 114°44′37″W[1]
 ⁃ elevation6,857 ft (2,090 m)[2]
MouthMeets Lochsa River to form Middle Fork Clearwater River
 ⁃ location
Lowell, Nez Perce National Forest
 ⁃ coordinates
46°08′25″N 115°35′58″W[1]
 ⁃ elevation
1,453 ft (443 m)[1]
Length100 mi (160 km)[3]
Basin size2,013 sq mi (5,210 km2)[4]
Discharge 
 ⁃ locationLowell, Idaho
 ⁃ average3,773 cuft/s
 ⁃ minimum580 cuft/s
 ⁃ maximum29 573 cuft/s
TypeWild, Recreational
DesignatedOctober 2, 1968
Reference no.P.L. 90-542

The main stem of the Selway is 100 miles (160 km) in length[3] from the headwaters in the Bitterroots to the confluence with the Lochsa near Lowell to form the Middle Fork of the Clearwater. The Selway River drains a 2,013-square-mile (5,210 km2) basin in Idaho County.[4]

History

The Selway River is home to Chinook salmon. Four salmon channels were built "in the mid-1960s by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and by the Job Corps ... along the Selway to help re-establish the spring chinook run after hydroelectric dams were built downstream." The river was stocked with salmon eggs and fry "each fall through 1981, and again in 1985."[7] A 1993 book about the project, Indian Creek Chronicles, won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Award.[8][9]

Flora
  • Cedar - Western red cedar
  • ferns
  • Firs – Douglas and grand fir
  • Huckleberries
  • Pine - ponderosa pine
  • Spruce - Engelmann spruce

Wildlife

Recreation

See also

References
  1. "Selway River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. June 21, 1979. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
  2. Source elevation derived from Google Earth search using GNIS source coordinates.
  3. U.S. Geological Survey. "The National Map: National Hydrography Dataset High-Resolution Flowline Data". Retrieved May 3, 2011.
  4. Bugosh, Nicholas (2000). "Lower Selway River Subbasin Assessment" (PDF). Lewiston, Idaho: Lewiston Regional Office, Idaho Division of Environmental Quality. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
  5. Idaho Atlas & Gazetteer (6th ed.). Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. 2007. pp. 52–53, 55–56. ISBN 978-0-89933-284-0.
  6. "Clearwater River (Middle Fork), Idaho". National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
  7. Briggeman, Kim (2011-06-12). "Students immersed in Magruder Corridor". Missoulian. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
  8. Fromm, Pete (2003). Indian Creek chronicles. New York: Picador. ISBN 0312422725.
  9. "Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness by Pete Fromm". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved 2013-12-01.

Bibliography
  • Floating the Wild Selway. (1991) [Missoula, Mont.?] : U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Region.
  • Selway River Corridor: A Guide to Recreation on the Moose Creek Ranger District. (2000) Kooskia, Idaho : U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Nez Perce National Forest, Moose Creek Ranger Station.
  • Selway River fisheries investigations : job completion report. (1979) [Idaho] : Idaho Dept. of Fish & Game.
  • A survey and evaluation of archaeological resources in the Magruder Corridor, Bitterroot National Forest, east-central Idaho, 1969. (1969) Pocatello, Idaho : Idaho State University Museum.
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